Marvel's Blade reboot recently lost its second director, continuing development hell for the project that was first announced way back in 2019. Now, some new details about the previous version have been revealed as it prepares for a complete rewrite.
A deep dive into the movie from The Hollywood Reporter suggested that star Mahershala Ali is becoming frustrated its slow progress. The whole idea for the movie stemmed from him after he pitched it to Kevin Feige and he's been heavily involved in the production process, helping to handpick second director Yann Demange.
Per THR sources too, the original vision for the movie that was preparing to start filming this year was a '20s-set period piece. Pearl star Mia Goth was on board to play Blade villain Lilith in the new version of the film, who is a vampire queen. A few versions of her have appeared in Marvel's oeuvre, but she was first introduced as Dracula's daughter in a 1974 comic about the legendary vampire. In the Blade movie, she was reportedly going to be a villain after the blood of Blade's daughter.
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Goth is still attached to the movie, as is Ali, and the next stage is a rewrite over the summer. Per the report, the new version will be set in the present day and go out to directors in the fall. There's no sign of Blade stopping just yet as development goes on for the new movie.
Original Blade star Wesley Snipes recently shared a cheeky comment about the ongoing struggles to get the reboot off the ground. Our writer argues too that the signs were unfortunately there all along about how difficult this one was going to be.
Next up for Marvel is Deadpool & Wolverine, which is due out in theaters in July. For more on that movie, check out our exclusive images from the film and why director Shawn Levy hopes it will help save the MCU.
